LANCASTER — Selectmen Jean M. Syria and Susan E. Smiley, both subjects of a recall drive in town, have been cleared by the state attorney general's office of three Open Meeting Law complaints.

The Board of Selectmen received a letter from the attorney general's office dated Tuesday containing decisions on the three complaints, all filed by former Selectman David Dunn.

He alleged that the two selectmen had refused to permit the local cable access station to record the April 1 selectmen's meeting, had deliberated outside of posted meetings and had held discussions in executive session that were not appropriate for executive sessions.

The AG ruled that there was no violation when Ms. Syria, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, asked a cable TV videographer not to record the selectmen's meeting because selectmen are under no obligation to make audio or video recordings of their meetings.

The Open Meeting Law says any member of the public may record an open meeting, but a public body, such as the Board of Selectmen, is not required to do so.

The Sterling/Lancaster Community Television Corp. has a 2009 agreement with the town to record and cablecast public meetings of the selectmen.

The AG's letter says: "The complaint does not allege that anyone was denied the right to record or broadcast the board's April 1, 2014, meeting. Rather, it asserts that the board asked an SLCTV member not to record the meeting and the member complied. As SLCTV was acting as an agent of the board, recording the meeting pursuant to a contract, the board's request was akin to a decision by the board itself not to record the meeting.

"Because a public body is not required to broadcast or record its meetings, we find that the board did not violate the Open Meeting Law. We make no finding as to whether the board was required by contract to permit SLCTV to record or broadcast the meeting."

The AG declined to review Mr. Dunn's complaints that Ms. Syria and Ms. Smiley, vice chairman/clerk of the Board of Selectmen, deliberated outside of open meetings and held discussions in executive sessions improperly. It explained: "Our office will not conduct broad audits of public bodies based on generalized allegations without specific dates or date ranges."

In an interview Thursday, Mr. Dunn said, "I have written up and will deliver a formal request for the release of public records that include telephone, cellphone and emails of Jean Syria and Susan Smiley for the period of November and December of 2013; and January, May, June and July of 2014. If there is little to no communication between the two, then I was wrong, but if there has been contact (between the two) outside of meetings, that will be shown in these records."

Petitions seeking the recall of Ms. Syria and Ms. Smiley cited Open Meeting Law violations among the complaints. The recall drive began after the two selectmen refused on New Year's to renew the contract of former Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco.

Ms. Smiley said in an open letter to her friends and supporters that she was relieved to see the attorney general's decision.

"I hope that many folks can pick up the pieces of this mess and move on. I understand that change is difficult and the decision not to renew Mr. Pacheco's contract was strictly done, on my behalf, for the betterment of the Town of Lancaster. I do expect that we will come to see that more and more in the days, months and years in front of us. Some decisions are very challenging to make and this is one that did not come quickly or without specific consideration to all inputs from town employees, town residents and those in and around our community that service our town."

Ms. Syria also expressed relief that the decisions were made. "I am thankful it finally came down and in writing. All these innuendos were not based on fact and this proves it. Just because you say something over and over does not mean it's true," she said in a phone interview.

Selectmen have not yet dealt with certified petition signatures calling for the recall election of Ms. Syria and Ms. Smiley.

The petitions allege that both selectmen violated the Open Meeting Law and selectmen's policies and procedures, limited or eliminated public comment at public meetings, terminated the town administrator's contract without cause, wasted public money on unnecessary legal services and limited the ability of municipal staff to get or be reimbursed for professional development.

The recall affidavit for Ms. Syria says she engaged in vendor harassment — using public money for town counsel to undermine and violate previously approved contracts, and made negative and unsubstantiated public comments about townspeople, accusing them of being homophobic.

The affidavit for recall of Ms. Smiley says she engaged in misappropriation of public money of the Lancaster co-ed softball league, did not turn over all of the revenues to the town treasurer, failed to disclose how the money was spent and did not get the consent of the town to disburse any of that money.

Ms. Smiley said in her open letter she was confident she will be cleared of other charges in the petition. "The other additional allegations and false personal innuendoes of me filtering money away from the softball league and town shall also prove bogus — town auditors have already cleared — and that will be released as well in the days ahead," she said.

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